Iran-backed PMU militias in Iraq raising profile
Danish elite forces left the Iraqi-Syrian border area in late October against a backdrop of tension between Denmark and Iran.
AiN AL-ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq — In Iraq, tension between the US-led coalition and armed groups linked to Iran has risen in recent months. For example, the United States sanctioned key representatives of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on Nov. 13, saying they had moved money, acquired weapons and trained fighters in Iraq. Problems have also arisen with some factions of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU).
As a whole, the PMU are part of Iraq’s security forces, but some of its dozens of factions are Shiite armed groups with ties to Iran. There has long been tension between some of the local Sunni population and those Shiite-majority PMUs from southern and central Iraq.
Recently, one of these Shiite factions claimed that elite Danish troops — members of the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq — fired rockets at them. The PMU unit also alleged the Danes’ guilt prompted them to leave the border area in last September.
The Danish unit, part of an elite fighting force known as Jaeger Corps, denied any connection with the event. The day before they left in late October, Al-Monitor was granted an exclusive interview with Kaare Jakobsen, commander of the highly secretive Jaeger Corps.
